In this image taken from footage provided by Russian television station RU-RTR, officials examine the carcasses of dead seals on the Caspian coast, Dagestan.
RU-RTR Russian TV/AP
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RU-RTR Russian TV/AP
In this image taken from footage provided by Russian television station RU-RTR, officials examine the carcasses of dead seals on the Caspian coast, Dagestan.
RU-RTR Russian TV/AP
About 1,700 seals have been found dead on the Caspian coast in southern Russia, officials said Sunday.
Authorities in Russia’s Dagestan province said the cause of the animals’ deaths was still unknown, but it was likely that they died of natural causes.
Regional officials initially said on Saturday that 700 dead seals had been found on the shore, but on Sunday, Zaur Gapizov, head of the Caspian Center for Environmental Protection, said according to the news agency. ton state RIA Novosti that after more extensive examination of the coast, the number of dead seals animals is 1,700.
Gapizov said the seals may have died a few weeks ago. He added that there was no indication that they were killed by poachers.
Federal Fisheries Agency experts and prosecutors examined the shoreline and collected data for the laboratory study, but did not immediately detect any contaminants.
Several previous mass seal deaths were attributed to natural causes.
Data on the number of seals in the Caspian varies widely. The fisheries agency puts the total number of Caspian seals at 270,000-300,000, while the Gapizov center puts the number at 70,000.
